Front Range
SnowpackNathanael Martin · Mar 8, 2012 · Front Range
Weather
Around 12-2 pm, sunny, winds <5 mph, temperature about 40.
Snowpack
Very wet surface snow below treeline, at treeline the surface conditions were 1-2" of snow on top of sastrugi or crust. Snowpack was very shallow in some places. At top of descent slope, at 12,400', the upper snowpack consisted of 1" of new snow/wind deposited above a 4-6" extremely hard slab/sastrugi. Below that, there moderately consolidated, bonded snow. Collapsing was not "whumping" but occasional breaking through the hard surface layer(s).